VW BUS RIM'S

All trucks used 16"  5 lug rims until March of 55. Made by Lemmerz and KPZ
Some of the earlier 16's were riveted together as shown:

riveted.jpg (19392 bytes)
Most  16's were welded together.
Both styles were smoothie style rims with no holes in them. Some 16's have a notch around the valve stem, and some have a hole in them. There does not seem to be any reasoning behind these processes, most likely just a manufacturer choice.
161.jpg (215186 bytes) 162.jpg (206652 bytes)

Some later 55 trucks have been seen with 16" rims on them (another example of VW using what was left on the shelf)

March 1955, A smaller 15"  5lug rim was introduced. There were 3 manufacturers of 15" rims; Lemmerz , VW, and KPZ (Kron Prinze). You may find either manufacturer on your truck, there was no method to which vehicles got which name, and some trucks have been seen with mixed. All 3 manufacturers are both *very* similar rims with only slight detail differences. Cooling slots were added to aid in cooling the brake drums on all 15" rims.

VW:
vw15rim.jpg (289785 bytes)

LEMMERZ: Often referred to as the "crows foot" rim, these rims had special reinforcement stampings on each of the lug holes, that was supposed to keep it from flexing or warping. with the hubcap on, you would probably never notice if a rim was a crow's foot or non, but upon close inspection, you will notice that the slots in the rim have a slight peak to them at the top of the arch. (Compare lower photo with "VW" photo above). Lemmerz rims were also date stamped in 2 places (VW was only stamped once), underneath the hubcap like VW rims, and under where the tire goes. In the pic below, you can see the difference in the slot arch. Also the offset on a crowsfoot rim is more then the other styles. 
lemmerzarch.jpg (314547 bytes)

Johann Lemmerz was the first man to invent a "removable multi-piece (welded) rim, that attaches with 5 bolts" in 1946. He opened the factory in germany right after the war. "Hayes - Lemmerz" is now the largest rim manufacturer in the world.  Lemmerz changed to some kind of "rivetless rivet method" when making his rims in 59, so maybe that didn't go over too well with VW - Lemmerz seems to have stopped production of VW rims as of 60. If you can send me a pic of a crow's foot rim made after 1960, please do, I have never seen one.

KPZ
Still researching info
kpl2.jpg (31893 bytes)

1963- a 14" rim was introduced.
late in the year (December). same lug pattern.

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